What a day.

I finally heaved a loud sigh as soon as I have the conference room for myself, after dealing with pretentious people who have just left and went back to their respective designations.

I stayed in the conference room for a moment and try to organize my thoughts. I think about what just transpired during the meeting, my father’s solution on how to make the board shut their mouths, and Taeyeon. God, Taeyeon.

I checked my phone to see if there’s any text messages coming from her and there was one. The message was sent to me an hour ago.

Taetae

Dinner later, okay? I love you.

That simple ‘I love you’ that came from her somehow made me smile. I heaved another sigh and locked my phone. I stand up from my seat and left the conference room.

People bowed and greeted me as I pass by. My usual self could have returned their polite greetings, but not today. Not today when the board concluded that I’m still not qualified to take over a very huge project. Not today when I am about to know how did things go when I asked Sooyoung to assess Taeyeon.

The last person who greeted me was my cousin Irene, who is also my secretary. I’m not in the mood but I still managed to return the smile at the very least.

“Sooyoung unnie is inside. She’s been there since your meeting started.” She informed me.

“Oh. Okay. Thanks, Irene. You can go home now. It’s been a long day.” I replied in a very much exhausted tone.

“Is everything okay, unnie?” Irene asked in concern.

I don’t want to talk about it now so I just nodded. “Just tired.”

“Okay. If you say so. I’ll get going, Fany unnie.”

“Yeah. Take care.” I sincerely replied, and watched as she goes on her way.

When she’s finally gone from my peripheral vision, I turn around and faced my door. I sighed and pushed the glass door.

As soon as I come in to my office, I walked my way to my personal lounge and a view of Sooyoung hijacking the contents of my newly stocked refrigerator welcomed my sight. Shikshin. What’s new?

“I’m here.” I singsong when I noticed that she hasn’t paid attention to my arrival.

As if she’s being caught red-handed, she closed the refrigerator immediately and stands straight, her hands on her back.

Oh, that sly grin on her face.

I disregarded the ice cream tub that she’s hiding and straightforwardly asked, “So, how did it go? What happened with you and Taeyeon earlier?”

Sooyoung revealed the B&J’s that she has obtained and slumped on the wide couch. She began enjoying her ice cream and totally ignored me.

“Ya, Choi Sooyoung.” I told her in a stern voice which made her momentarily stop from eating.

She wiped the sides of that are stained with the ice cream and replied, “Bad. No, worse.”

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and asked, “What do you mean?”

She stuck her spoon on the tub and looked at me in the eyes. “Well, I used the truth as an illustration. And before you can react violently, I told her that it’s just hypothetical.”

“And what did she say?” I breathed in and prepared myself for it.

She took two huge spoonful of ice cream and replied, “What do you think will a self-absorbed, still hurt, and cannot move on Taeyeon say?”

I exhaled and started fiddling with my pen. I can already picture in my mind the reaction Taeyeon gave to Sooyoung, and it made me wince.

I pulled myself out from my unpleasant imagination and stopped with the disturbing noise that I make. I looked the empty ice cream tub on the coffee table then at Sooyoung who’s looking at me with sympathy and asked, “Should I already tell her then?”

“I don’t want to be a downer but, are you ready to lose her?”

I instantly shook my head in reflex. “No.”

She nodded at me then, finally knowing the right words to tell me. “As an individual, I’d say that you must tell her the truth and accept whatever the consequences may be. But as your best friend, I don’t know. I just wanted to see you and Taeyeon happy.”

I can see and feel the sincerity from her face and words, and I am grateful that she’s being honest with me though her contrasting pieces of advice just make my head ache.

My attention budged when I felt my phone vibrated. I took out my phone to check my notification and see Taeyeon’s name on the screen. I pressed the pop-up notification and opened our conversation box.

Taetae

Hey. Something came up. I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

See you tomorrow?

It’s fine. Take your time.

Yeah. See u tomorrow.

I’m sorry, really.

“What happened? Why is your face like that?” I must be really looking disappointed that she had to ask me that.

I locked the screen and looked at my friend. “Taeyeon cancelled our dinner. She said that something came up.”

She nodded in understanding and commented, “Workaholic Taengoo is back, I see.”

“Yeah.” I simply told her and leaned back on my seat.

We stayed silent for a few minutes. I took my time and glanced at the city lights through the glass panels, thinking what urgent thing Taeyeon has to do when I don’t recall any deadlines.

I was so engulf with my own thoughts that I lately realized that Sooyoung’s already standing in front of me, giving me a knowing smile.

And as if remembering something, she widened her eyes a bit and said, “Oh. I almost forgot to remind you about that dance showcase that Hyoyeon and Taemin organized.”

“You don’t have to remind me on that. Taeyeon and I have already put that schedule on our planners. We’re coming together.” I said in a deflated tone.

“I see.” A short pause, then she added, “Since your Taetae won’t be with you for dinner, let’s just eat dinner together. My treat.”

I raised my brow at the sudden invitation. At her last words. “What’s gotten into you?”

Sooyoung didn’t answer my question and just shrugged her shoulders.

-

The next day came. I got enough sleep that I needed thanks to Sooyoung’s chamomile tea. As soon as I woke up, I did my household chores and took my bath.

It’s already 1 o’clock in the afternoon when I decided to get myself ready for today’s event. I am in the midst of preparing when my phone started ringing.

I swiped the screen, answering Taeyeon’s call and put it into speaker mode as I put my earrings on.

“Hey.” I greeted.

"I'm here at your condominium's basement parking, Fany-ah. Do you want me to come up?"

"Already? I thought you'd be here for at least another hour. I’m almost done. I’ll see you in a bit.”

"I already finished what I have to do, well at least for today. Still looking for a very special book of accounts though. Oh, right. In that book, I discovered a huge fraud. Isn’t it great?" She said in a very much amusing voice which made me nervous. “I’ll be waiting here.”

Discovered a huge fraud?

"Then you should have to work out on how to eliminate the risk and perform a substantive test as soon as possible." I answered professionally even though it somehow bothered me. It’s not what I’m thinking, is it?

I put on my heels and clutched my bag. I stared at the mirror one last time and left my unit.

Still on the phone with Taeyeon, she said, "That I will do later. Where are you now?"

"I